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American stars headed to Johannesburg for premiere of ‘Love by Chance’

THREE of the American stars of the South African-American co-production Love by Chance – Terri J Vaughn, Desi Banks and Ja’el Roberson – will be visiting South Africa for the premiere of this new comedy.

They will also attend a film junket with local star, Atandwa Kani, who has just been cast in Marvel’s upcoming superhero film The Black Panther.

Kani, son of renowned actor, director and playwright John Kani, stars opposite Altovise Lawrence, winner of the first season of Top Actor Africa, who takes on the role of leading lady in Love by Chance, a story about two aspiring actors from South Africa who are independently in America, trying to break into an extremely difficult and over saturated Hollywood industry.

They find themselves in the Hollywood of the South, Atlanta, Georgia, aka “Hotlanta,” chasing their dreams as actors in a new country, while juggling friends and love. Nothing is as easy as it seems.

The film is directed by award-winning ﬁlm and television producer and director Samad Davis, who also created and produced the Top Actor Africa television format.

Visiting South Africa for the premiere will be actress and producer Terri J Vaughn, winner of a National Association for the Advancement of Colored people (NAACP) Image award, an accolade that honours outstanding people of colour in film, television, music, and literature.

Vaughn is known for her roles in Girlfriends’ Getaway, Greenleaf, The Steve Harvey Show and, more recently, the comedy series Mann & Wife.

US actor and comedian Desi Banks, a Facebook and Instagram sensation with more than 480,000 followers, is best known for Instagram comedy sketches, Strangers with Memories (2016), La Vie Magnifique De Charlie (2017), and Never Forget (2016).

Actress Ja’el Roberson, known for The Christmas Swap (2016), Comeback Dad (2014) and Let’s Stay Together (2011), has worked with Tyler Perry.

Director Davis describes Love by Chance as a pioneering film because it brings together US and South African talent and bridges cultural and continental divides against the backdrop of a comedy.

Love by Chance premieres in South Africa on 5 May and is distributed by Indigenous Film Distribution.